Thanks for this. Phew. So that's the mxyzptlk Word. And they say your
country has no sense of history <grin> Goodness me, an Amurikan?! And you
can spell! <arch look> Well, blow me down if I'm not all agog with being a
part of this little shuttle of International Cultural Exchange - a
thrillingly asynchronous instalment of what was no doubt meant when the Net
Pioneers talked in visionary manner years back, with faraway looks of
semi-entrancement on their eyes, mindstreaming Grand Metanarratives of P2P
Data-orgies onto their brainscreens. If knowledge is power, then I go forth
into the world today galvanised, be it ever so minimally, by this meme-like
injection from that Great Country of yours - the United States of Batman
(USB) (Only connect...)
Now enough of this balderdash, can we talk about something more on-topic
like how Type records have gone off and signed some half-arsed Swedish
post-post-rock band, thus officially declaring the label no longer a safe
haven for lovers of Quality Electronica by cravenly opening its doors to
invasion by a mutant strain of the deleterious
Godspeed/Mogwai/Mono/Explosionsinthesky virus?
<
http://www.typerecords.com/releases/full.php?id=15>
(Loud Bit over) (Quiet Bit now) (get ready for another Loud Bit soon)
alan
P.S. Is 'howdy' due for a comeback, y'know, on the back of Brokeback
Mountain-mania? (hmmm... too many backs there... backing out). Yee haw.
--On 05 April 2006 04:01 +0000 wobbly <spacewalker@juno.com> wrote:
quoted 86 lines Hi Alan
> Hi Alan
> or should I say "Howdy" coz I'm Amurikan?
>
> Forewarned is forearmed. Just so you know who we're dealing with, here's
> the REAL all-consonant moniker meaning:
>
> Mister Mxyzptlk is the name used on Earth by a devilish being from
> another plane of reality, different from our own, which he calls the
> "Fifth Dimension." Through means known only to him,, Mxyzptlk entered
> into our reality, assuming the appearance of a distinctly handsome
> Earthman. Calling himself Ben DeRoy, he used his powers first to entrance
> Daily Planet reporter Lois Lane, and then to sporadically terrorize the
> people of Metropolis, all in an effort to lure Superman out into the
> open. When Superman appeared to deal with his devilry, DeRoy confronted
> the Man of Steel, transforming himself into a bizarre little gnome-like
> being. In this form, he introduced himself as a gamester and gambler, a
> superior being who had come to Earth specifically to match himself
> against Metropolis's champion. Taking the name "Mxyzptlk" (pronounced
> miks-ye-pit'I-ik), he issued a challenge to Superman: Mxyzptlk would use
> his powers to throw Metropolis into a state of utter chaos, and would
> leave only if Superman could some-how induce him to speak, spell, or
> write his chosen name backwards.
>
> Unable to stop Mxyzptlk by physical means, Superman finally presented him
> with a gigantic typewriter and dared him to type his name again. When
> Mxyzptlk did so, the letters K-L-TP Z-Y X-M appeared on the machine,
> which had been rigged to work in reverse. Infuriated, Mxyzptlk left
> forhis native dimension.
>
> Ninety days later, when the dimensional interfaces were next in
> alignment, Mxyzptlk retumed to Earth, appearing this time in southern
> California. When Superman again confronted Mr. "Mxy," the gnome announced
> that he was changing the rules of his "game:' Under the new rules, he
> would leave only if he could be induced to paint his own face blue. Once
> again, Superman managed to tum the tables on Mxyzptlk and send him on his
> way.
>
> Mxyzptlk returned for a third time during Superman's period of self-exile
> in space. Unable to find his old opponent, Mxyzptlk confronted Lex
> Luthor, who flatly refused to play by the demon's rules. Instead, Luthor
> embarked on a plan of lies and deception which so offended Mxyzptlk that
> he left Earth, vowing never to retum.
>
> Eventually, Mxyzptlk changed his mind, retuming to engineer an
> around-the-world foot race between Superman and the Flash. In an attempt
> to emulate Luthor, Mxyzptlk told the runners that he would leave if
> Superman won the race, while promising himself that he would leave only
> if the Flash won. To his astonishment, the Flash did win. Caught up in
> his own twisted logic, Mxyzptlk departed in a cloud of smoke.
>
> Ninety days later, Mxyzptlk chose to invade a different plane of reality.
> Not wishing to miss a chance to torture Superman, though, he created his
> own crimson-hued version of Kryptonite and transported it to Lex Luthor.
> This Red Kryptonite fell into Luthor's possession with the message that
> the rock would make the businessman and Superman physical equals. There
> was one catch ? Lex could not reveal Mxyzptlk's involvement to the Man of
> Steel. Luthor accepted the terms, and was delighted to discover that
> Mxyzptlk's gift had trans-formed Superman into an ordinary man. In a
> confrontation with Clark Kent, however, Luthor gloated that Mr. Mxyzptlk
> had created the Red K, unaware that the reporter was the de-powered
> Superman. With that revelation, the process was automatically reversed,
> and Kent regained his powers.
>
> The unpredictable Mxyzptlk continues to plot and scheme in his home
> dimension, awaiting future opportunities to bring terror and confusion to
> an unsuspecting world.
>
> POWERS & WEAPONS
>
> The power wielded by Mr. Mxyzptlk is derived from a fifth-dimensional
> science so far beyond anything known on Earth that it appears to be
> magic. Mxyzptlk "magic" is unrelated to any kind of sorcery, and it is
> uncertain to what extent ? if any --Mxyzptlk himself possesses superhuman
> powers. But however he does it, Mxyzptlk can do virtually anything ? from
> animating inanimate objects to spontaneously creating matter from
> nothingness ? and Superman is as vulnerable to his power as is any human
> being.
>
> Mxyzptlk's gnome-like appearance is the closest we can come to perceiving
> his actual fifth-dimensional form.
>
>
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----------------------
Alan Lockett (Senior Language Co-ordinator - EFL)
Language Centre, University of Bristol,
30-32 Tyndall's Park Road, Bristol, BS8 1PY, UK
tel: +44 (0)117 3310914 e-mail: Alan.R.Lockett@bristol.ac.uk
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